..............****************............................................ There and back again, a Canadian woman's tale...................................................

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Wind, rain, flat tire.......

Our Location: ONRoute, Tilbury, Ontario

A cold night outside but not too bad inside, we were tucked under our covers and only noticed the cold upon getting out of bed. We both slept in my bed, opting to keep the slides in so there would be no accumulation of ice should it happen. It was a lucky move, we had a bit of ice to be sure but it appeared to be from the cold wind, instead of the freezing rain part.

For some reason the internet connection wasn't good last night. It showed four bars but was very slow. The pictures wouldn't up load at all. It took a long time to even post the blog and nothing else would load after that, so I gave up after about an hour. This morning it worked great for a while but is once again showing signs of not working so well. Oh well, it is what it is, the phones work great and that's what matters most.

We needed to partially open one of the slides this morning to get the dry cat food which we forgot to take out yesterday morning. Since that is the side with the hose in the window I needed to go out to ensure nothing happened that shouldn't happen. I'm glad I stepped outside. A thin layer of ice was over the handle, and the steps but not the off wind side of the walls. I did however notice a flat tire just as I stepped down on the ground. The front tire on the Igloo is completely flat. So we will be here until tomorrow for certain.

We got the cat food, pulled the slide back in and I began the process of calling the auto club at 8:30 am. I very rarely ever use it but it's nice to have when we need it right? The nice lady that I spoke with, whose name happened to be Deborah, was very pleasant and friendly. Hm.....now the problems are starting. First she can't locate the ONRoute address to send someone. That is resolved within a few minutes. Good to go right? No, another problem. It says my contract has been cancelled. Not possible, I paid back in November. Further digging show's it's been transferred, but closed in Southern Ontario, since it was moved to Northern Ontario when I contacted them about moving. Okay, Deborah will call N. Ontario CAA to get the information to send someone to us. Some issue on that end, Deborah will continue to look into and call ME back when she has the answer. Within 5 minutes she calls me with yet another issue. They don't open until 10 am. Now I have to call back after that time. So here we sit waiting for 10 am so I can call back and get this thing moving forward before the day ends.

I will condense this at it took most of the day to get the job accomplished. Numerous calls, discussions, and information were exchanged which still didn't seem to be correct even by the time the job was almost complete. The first fellow to arrive had trouble finding us, his jack wasn't big enough and they had completely screwed up the information. Second fellow called, laughed when I told him the weight and said he couldn't help me but he'd let dispatch know. Eventually two dispatchers were needed to complete the task and at 3:30 pm on the dot, 2 nice young fellows from Kaltire showed up and were gone within 10 minutes, everything fixed and we're ready to roll when the afternoon comes tomorrow. The tire had a separation issue and went flat over night instead of blowing apart on the road. How lucky is that? So the spare tire is on, the tire in need of replacement is on the back of the Igloo and when we reach Hamilton I will have a new tire put on the rim and placed on the Igloo, putting the spare back where it belongs. They were young, sweet and very helpful. I was certain to give them a nice tip for their troubles. Over the course of the day I discovered where the cold draft was coming from that seems to have been an issue since we arrived here. The closet slide in my bedroom is blowing cold air like there are huge holes in the wall. The entire outer edge of the slide has a cold wind coming in whenever there is a gust outside. Explains why it was so cold up stairs last night. The slide is on the wind side. I thought closing it might help but it didn't do anything at all. So I've stuffed the offending areas with some blankets and towels which seems to have fixed the issue for now. I'll have to look at that as well when the weather gets a bit nicer. For now I'll just keep tucking the things around it when we are parked. The weather has of course been rainy all day but it's been a bit warmer, not nice by any means but a bit warmer. Hopefully by tomorrow the wind lets up and we can move ourselves down the road to Hamilton by afternoon. I'm looking forward to getting there, getting a new tire and having things put back together. We are also looking forward to seeing daughter/sister Bradey and her other half, David while we are in the area. Dinner Tuesday night with the two of them will give us a chance to get caught up. I chatted with my dad twice today, we discussed the weather both here and there. They are still in the midst of a storm as well. He's quite a bit further north than we are but he says they've had it all, ice pellets, snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, and when we talked the last time it was still snowing and of course the issue is the wind. Makes it very difficult to see with all the snow blowing around. I also chatted with my friend Linda, who lives a bit further north than my dad. She said they had just started getting some weather and they hadn't had much of any weather even though a lot of snow had been predicted. We chatted for about an hour, catching up on a few things. I'm looking forward to seeing her and her hubby Randy within the next month. We'll be making a stop close to their home on our way to our summer location at Dad's. Around 6 pm daughter Courtney called to say hello and we chatted about our upcoming visit at Buttercup Ridge. I'm looking forward to seeing her so much, it's been a while since we've actually physically spent time together. She and her hubby Matt will be coming out to spend a couple of days with us!! I'm very excited!

After that I finished the book I was reading, Sue Grafton, R is for Ricochet. A pretty good book, not quite the same as the other letters of the alphabet but I enjoyed it anyway. I'll start a new book tomorrow some time.

The temperatures are hovering pretty steady I think a few degrees above freezing here in Tilbury and it appears that by tomorrow afternoon all of this nasty stuff should be behind us, the ice will hopefully have melted, and all things will be good from here on out.

Again no pictures as it's just too slow to load them. I think there are so many folks on their phones and such here at the ONRoute that it's the reason every thing is so slow. When not many folks are around it's pretty fast. Riley spent some time inside the ONRoute building today during our tire changing experience so she was out of the cold and reported that the building was running on back up generator power. She commented the lights flickered off and on a number of times as well. I know that parts of Manitoulin Island were also without power for some hours today, but not where my dad is located. Further to the north and west from his locale. However a cousin out the road called to ask my Dad and brother to come out to remove a tree that had fallen on the house. However it hadn't actually landed on the house, it had slide down the side of the of it. So no roof damage but some scraped up siding. Parts of Toronto were having trouble with flying ice as it blew off power lines, tree branches, etc. A few downed limbs were also evident in the area in which daughter Courtney lives. Definitely not a nice weekend here in Ontario, pretty much any area you look at had nasty wet weather and strong NE winds. Winds will calm considerably over night at last look. So there you have it. A real eventful day in our little neck of the woods. Glad we were sitting still for it. I hope you've all had an excellent day, that you stayed warm, dry, and unharmed where ever you may be. Tomorrow will be a better day I'm certain. Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate them all. If you don't wish to leave a comment, that is also just fine, I'm still happy you dropped by for a visit. Until next time.... take care, be safe, Deb

16 comments:

Fingers crossed and a prayer for a better day tomorrow. Thank goodness you were sitting still when the flat happened and in the end you were able to get it fixed so when the weather is right you are able to move on.

(Food for thought...when we still had our 5th wheel we had one tire go and then a few months later a 2nd one had the same issue which is when we had them checked and replace them all. Afterwards, Tom talked to someone who had replaced all their tires with truck tires as they are stronger then the ones put on 5th wheels. Just something to think about.)

Good thing you weren't on the road when you lost your tire. All slides have terrible seals. If you look close enough you should see outside.We are just getting lots of rain in Tecumseh.The weather should clear by tomorrow afternoon.Be Safe and Enjoy!

My goodness road service like that is terrible. Good thing it was not an emergency. At least you were parked when it happened, If all the tires are the same age you might want to replace them all.Continued safe travels and enjoy some time with family in Hamilton before heading north again.

Thanks George. It was a mix up from the first call due to a foul up in the office when they transferred my southern Ontario membership to Northern Ontario back in February. So they'll get it worked out at some point.

I'm very thankful I was parked and not on the road. It was extremely good luck. We were already sitting so we just sat a little lopsided for a bit. LOL.

I will consider that but for now I just want to replace the blown out tire to ensure I have a spare. I asked the tire guys that were there and they assured me the other tires are all fine, no issues, lots of tread, no signs of separation, etc. Just one tire had an issue. He told me what to watch for in case any more go that way. When I get the new tire I'll also ask the tire guys there what they think of the of other tires. Plus I have a mechanic here that I really trust and I can always go ask him what he thinks.

Thank God you were parked when the tire went. That service sure leaves a lot to be desired. What if you'd been stranded on the side of the road. They charge enough, CAA, they should provide better service.You are getting close to home and I'm sure excited to see family. Be safe!Hugs to you both.

Thanks Patsy. We were very fortunate the tire didn't blow on the road. It was actually just a small hole but you could see the wires starting to come through, so had we gone much further we would have had a problem for sure.

I can't fault the fellows that came to help us, they all tried and they all relayed the information back to the dispatcher/office. The problem is either THEY don't listen or they have a computer problem. They had us on the wrong side of the 401, said we were an Airstream, Silver in colour and weighed 1200 pounds. When in fact we were east bound, not west bound, we're white, weigh 12000 pounds and are a Cougar. They had my name and phone right though. LOL. It was an issue when they transferred my membership from south to north in February. They didn't complete the file work, just closed one out and said they transferred it. Once I gave them the information about payment way back in November they seemed to realize THEY had an internal issue and set about getting my problem solved but with the wrong information. So it all worked out eventually and we were able to get going today.

Thanks Shirley. It was very fortunate and I'm happy to say it's all fine and dandy. We were sitting anyway so truthfully as long as they fixed it before day's end, I was happy. I would have been just happy to know they helped someone stuck on the roadside first before getting to me, as long as I was fixed before quitting time. We safely tucked away in a parking lot, not on the side of the interstate, so it was all good.

I'm very fortunate indeed that we were off the road and tucked away in the parking lot. It would have been a very dangerous day sitting on the roadside waiting for service. Although I think at that point they would have just sent a big flat bed to tow us to a repair place. Since we weren't in harms way it wasn't as critical.

The weather is getting better as I type. No more freezing rain, no more falling ice, no sleet and the temps are about 38F. Can't complain about that. Soon spring will arrive and we'll be looking for something else to complain about.

Good catch on noticing the tire. That would not have been fun on the highway. Good to hear the KalTire guys fixed you up. I have had very good experiences with KalTire. They get my business.Stay warm and safe.

Thanks Dave. I have absolutely no complaints and would recommend them as well. The young fellows were very fast, courteous, professional, personable and knowledgeable. I can tell you I felt very sorry for them having to get down on the ground in all that wet crap and work with their bare hands.

The good news is that you weren't on the side of the road waiting for all the bureaucracy to be completed. Sure took a long time to organized a ten minute job. You were lucky you were stopped when this happened.

Absolutely Contessa. That is exactly what I said in the survey CAA sent to me to fill in. I'm very fortunate to have been stopped and not on the roadside as you say. Although I think in that case they would have sent a tow truck to haul us somewhere else but I don't know that for certain. It will eventually get fixed I have no doubt, probably just in time for me to renew it.

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About Me

My daughter Riley travels with me. Riley has learning disabilities and struggles with a number of issues. The travel is helping her start the long slow process of overcoming some of these issues. Forward progress is wonderful but not an every day occurrence, nor is it an every week occurrence. A smile on her face tells me we're making progress, no matter how slight. At the end of the day, that's all that matters.